


Save Me From Evil Spirits

by lunalovespudding3



Category: Revenge (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-12
Updated: 2014-11-12
Packaged: 2018-02-25 03:24:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2606705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunalovespudding3/pseuds/lunalovespudding3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Incident, Nolan thinks he's lost everyone who cares about him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Save Me From Evil Spirits

**Author's Note:**

> Probably screws with a billion timelines.

Nolan sank into his chair, his phone falling out of his hand in defeat. There were articles everywhere - “Nolan Ross comes out as gay!” “CEO of NolCorp is gay!” “Gay rights movement gains technology’s biggest face!” - and in every single one of them, that word appeared.  
Gay.  
Nolan had never made an effort to hide his sexuality, but the press had never seemed to pick up on it. He suspected the equal number of women and men in his bed confused them, which suited him just fine. The reclusive, secretive young billionaire image tended to get NolCorp more publicity.  
But now all of that was shattered. The notification that his father’s plane ticket had been refunded had come in just after the first article had been released.  
“I don’t need him,” he told himself as he ran options for possible fixes through his head. “I went years without him.”  
He could tell everyone the truth - “accidentally” leak security footage of him and Sage having sex. But despite the trouble she’d caused him, Sage was a nice girl. And on the Nolan side, the backlash for being the “other man” would be killer.  
Or he could go out to a club, find a nice girl, and take her on a date where they were sure to be photographed. Nolan rejected that thought immediately; the tabloids that would pick them up definitely didn’t understand the nuances of sexuality, even if they amounted to “people hot.” The magnitude of human stupidity really was limitless. Computers were far preferable.  
Nolan supposed he could go on some talk show to set the whole thing straight (so to speak), or give an interview to a magazine. There was no shortage of options, but Nolan didn’t trust any of them. He wondered briefly about the benefits of buying a newspaper, then dismissed it. That was a thought for another day.  
The possibility of setting every NolCorp product to only be able to access the Wikipedia page for bisexuality flitted across his mind, making him smile.  
The ring of his doorbell tore him out of the recesses of his head, and he got up reluctantly to answer it. He’d have to face the music eventually, in option E: none of the above.  
It wasn’t a reporter on the other side - it was David Clarke.  
He frowned as he took in Nolan’s appearance: hair sticking up in every direction in a way that wasn’t deliberate, clothes carefully chosen but rumpled; his face was red from a mixture of stress and tears. Nolan wished he’d taken a moment to fix himself up before opening the door.  
“I saw the press release,” David said.  
Nolan smoothed down his hair and wiped his face with an already-ruined sleeve. If he was going to lose his first investor, he was going to look mildly presentable. He laughed. “Come to tell me you’re pulling your money? I can see why - no one wants a queer as the head of a company.”  
“What?” Stepping into Nolan’s house, he shook his head. “Nolan, I would never - why would you think that?”  
You wouldn’t be the first father figure to drop me today, Nolan thought bitterly. He dropped himself onto the couch and gestured for David to sit next to him.  
“I came to give you my support. I know how vicious the media can be.” He remained standing. “You’re like a son to me. I would never abandon you.”  
Nolan muttered, “Didn’t stop my real dad from doing it.”  
Shocked, David sat down. “He-”  
“Canceled his flight when the articles started going viral.” Nolan sighed. “Don’t apologize; you had nothing to do with it.”  
“Okay. Alright. It was cruel for him to do that, though. I know how much you were looking forward to his visit.” An agreeing snort escaped him. David paused and took a deep breath, uncertain how to continue. “I don’t - it’s completely fine with me, by the way. That you’re gay.”  
A shudder ran through Nolan. “I’m not-” Every possible coming-out scenario he’d ever imagined crashed down, and he put his head in his hands. He lifted it up after almost a minute and said, “I’m not gay.”  
This was met with a concerned, furrowed brow. “There were pictures.”  
Great. Now David thought he was in denial. “I’m bi. I like guys, girls, people who are neither… any pretty face, really.” He braced himself for the reactions he’d gotten from his aunt, his exes, everyone.  
It didn’t come.  
“Oh.” David put a hand on Nolan’s shoulder, and it felt like a Sunday morning sunrise - a new start, filled with happiness and calmness and everything Nolan had been denied, or denied himself.  
So Nolan told him everything that had happened, every person who had stabbed him in the back because he was different from them in yet another way.  
And David listened. And when silence fell, he pulled Nolan into a hug and patted him on the back.  
And somehow, Nolan knew he would work everything out. As long as he had David holding him up, being what he hadn’t had for fifteen years, he would do just fine.

Years later, Nolan introduced Padma to David’s grave. He told her the story - the full one, not the abridged version she’d gotten upon discovering his father’s death. She took his hand. Looking down at the gravestone, Nolan finally felt like he had.

**Author's Note:**

> This idea hit me early in Season 4, and I only just got around to writing it.   
> What is NaNo.


End file.
